Proclaiming His Goodness, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Author and Pastor David Helm said that what we do with Jesus will mean everything to our standing and identity before God. Christ is the cornerstone. You cannot be indifferent about Jesus Christ. You will eventually stumble over Him or in submitting to Him, find the foundation on which to build your life. In this message titled Proclaiming His Goodness, Rich unpacks 1 Peter 2, 4-10.

Let's listen in. Live as people who are free. 1 Peter 2 16, live as people who are free. What is this freedom that we know?

What is this freedom that we have? Our text today is going to be chapter 2 verses 4-10. It's a portion of what Adam just read early today. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4-10. We looked at the identity of a free people, elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God, okay, and then also we looked at living by faith is liberating and the object of faith, the basis of our faith, the Word of God, the object of our faith is Jesus Christ.

The attitude of faith, the conduct of faith. And then for the bulk of the rest of Peter's letter, he's going to be looking at characteristics of people who are free. For those of us who are in Christ, this is what our freedom looks like, lived out.

He says at verse 4, look at that with me, as you come to Him, stop right there a minute. This is in the present, okay. This is our present God-ward movement.

It is a personal, habitual approach to God. Why? Because you can.

Why? Because of what Jesus has done. That's what we need to understand. You see, there's our freedom. Our boldness before God is our confidence to be able to approach Him without being afraid of His judgment.

Isn't that a wonderful thought? But that's true for only those who are in Christ. And so what he is saying here, look at back at verse 2, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that bite you may grow up into salvation. You need Jesus.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and you're walking with Him, you need Jesus. And this milk here is not in contrast to the solid meat. That's not the contrast.

He's not making a contrast. He's saying, like a newborn baby desperately needing mom's milk, you need Jesus. It's ongoing. That doesn't stop.

That doesn't end. And so he says in verse 4, as you come to Him, as you come to Him. So who is Jesus Christ? Let's look at who Jesus Christ is then as we talk about this. Because we're going to be talking about proclaiming the goodness of God as Brad gave us a wonderful call to worship this morning.

Proclaiming the goodness of God. Now, he changes. Peter changes the imagery here. In the first few verses, he was talking about food.

Okay? And now he's going to be changing to building materials as far as the imagery goes. Who Christ Jesus is. First of all, there's three statements to make about Him. First of all, He's chosen and precious. Jesus Christ is chosen and precious. These are the words that scripture uses.

Very informative in our understanding. As the Son of God, equal with God, being God Himself, He lived and He was here for the Father's purpose, under the Father's protection, with the Father's privilege. Chosen and precious. In other words, it's like God is saying of Him, He is special. He is mine. The only begotten Son of God.

Remember, when Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my, what? Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Chosen and precious. The fact that He's precious is that He is valued and honored.

He's not just a common, ordinary man. He is the unique Son of God. Chosen and precious. Isaiah 42, 1, I think clarifies this very well. Behold my servant, and this is a messianic prophecy. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. Very informative verse in terms of understanding that.

Very informative. I uphold, He's my chosen, I uphold Him. He's my chosen, I delight in Him. This is speaking of Jesus Christ. Not only is He chosen and precious, but He is also the living cornerstone. Now this is a building analogy. Building up an edifice, a wall, an edificio. You've got that cornerstone right there. It's the first one that goes down. And when He uses the imagery of a stone, He's speaking of stability.

Stability. In Jesus Christ, and remember, we're talking about a historic person. Jesus Christ is not myth. We're not talking about Santa Claus here.

We're talking about a historic person. In Jesus Christ, all the promises of God are fulfilled. In Jesus Christ. All of God's purposes through history are built around Him. He is the point, He is the fulcrum of reality. Jesus Christ, the living cornerstone.

What that means is this. If you do not submit to God, you will stumble over Jesus Christ. God is the point to our existence. He is the one by whom and for whom all things exist. And if you do not submit to God, you will stumble over Jesus Christ.

That's what Peter is talking about in this text, and he's drawing very heavily on Old Testament prophecies here. So Jesus Christ, first of all, is chosen and precious. Secondly, He's the living cornerstone. Thirdly, He's a stone of stumbling, as I just said.

A stone of stumbling. In Luke chapter 2, you remember the record of the birth of Jesus. And then when Jesus was a few days old, they take Him to the temple. And in the temple is this elderly man that God had given Him notice that you will not die until you see the salvation of God. Mary and Joseph come in carrying the infant Jesus. And Simeon takes the child and he says, Behold, this child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel.

This child is destined for the rise and fall of many. He was rejected by and large, wasn't he? He was rejected. Edmund Clowney says, In their rejection of Christ, the builders, and that's speaking of the leaders of the nation of Israel, in their rejection of Christ, the builders, in spite of themselves, served to put God's stone in place. That's the work of the sovereign God.

His purposes will stand. The problem was, for those who did not believe Him, that they regarded Him as not worthy. This is what stumbling over Jesus Christ looks like.

The one who is the living cornerstone. You regard Him as not worthy. That being translated as, I know better.

For my life, I know better. And in fact, Jesus is kind of in the way of my pleasure and my agenda. That's stumbling over Jesus Christ. That's rejecting Him as not worthy.

That's not recognizing Him as the point to your existence. In that sense, He becomes a stone of stumbling. This is disobedience. What Peter says in the text here, they did not believe. They stumbled because they disobeyed. That disobedience is ignoring the call to repentance and faith.

And so they stumble over Jesus. Why would they ignore the call to repentance and faith? Well, the people in that time, the builders, as it's referred to in the prophecy in Peter's statement, they were counting on other things for their redemption. They were counting on other things for their acceptance before God. What were they counting on?

They were counting on heritage. They were also counting on their self-righteousness. And you know what's very common with self-righteousness?

Comparison. The Pharisees compared themselves, didn't they? You want to know if you're self-righteous? How bent are you on comparing yourself to other people?

Okay, I just stepped on a few toes. That's self-righteousness. It's comparison. Because when you compare yourself to someone else, you inevitably want to see yourself as better.

It's what they did all the time. Remember the classic prayer that Jesus gave? A tax collector and a Pharisee went to the temple to pray, and the Pharisee said what? Father, thank you that I am not like this person or these other people.

What is that? That's comparison. That's self-righteousness.

What did the tax collector say? God be merciful to me. That is genuine faith.

Okay. They disobeyed. They stumbled over Jesus. I'm going to make a strong point here.

You ready for this? Put your seat belts on. You cannot be indifferent about Jesus Christ. You cannot. You will eventually stumble over him if you are. And if you fall away from God, you lose all hope. You cannot be indifferent about Jesus Christ. Either you reject him utterly, you will still stumble over him, or you surrender to him fully.

There's really no in between. History, as we know it, and some people love to study history, and history is very important. We need to know our history.

History is what? His story. It is the working of God, the outworking of his purpose and his plan, and Christ is at the center of that story. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.